Consumer-Targeted Brain-Computer Interfaces (CTBCI) started appearing in 2003 with the game marketed under the trademark MINDBALL provided by the company doing business as Interactive Productline. The purpose of the MINDBALL game was to move a ball using your brain. In 2007 CTBCIs started supporting programmatic use of captured brain signals with introduction of the headset marketed under the trademark MINDSET by the company doing business as NeuroSky. Since 2007 several new CTBCI products have appeared, including those marketed under the trademarks MELON headband (2013), XWAVE headset (2011) and MYNDPLAY BRAINBAND (2011). In addition, derived hardware products using CTBCI technology have been introduced to the market, including those marketed as follows: MATTEL MINDFLEX (2009), UNCLE MILTON STAR WARS FORCE TRAINER (2009), and NEUROSKY NECOMINI mind-controlled cat ears (2011).
In 2012, the company doing business as NeuroSky launched the mobile platform marketed under the trademark MINDWAVE, which supported programming mobile apps to use capture and use brain signals. The physical size and weight of CTBCIs are continuously decreasing, making them more comfortable to wear. An example of a recent, smaller and more comfortable CTBCI is a headband marketed under the trademark MELON, which was launched in 2013. The communication between the CTBCI and a computer (e.g. a mobile phone) is typically done using low radiation blue tooth.
Both the MINDBALL game and the MINDSET headband, discussed above, allowed capturing of electroencephalography (EEG) from the brain, i.e. electrical activity along the brain scalp. Later CTBCIs also started capturing electromyography (EMG) signals, i.e. muscle movements, and electrooculography (EOG) signals, i.e. facial expressions or eye blinks. Such developments are exemplified in the 2009 introduction by the company doing business as Emotiv of its headset marketed under the trademark EPOC and the 2010 introduction by NeuroSky of its new version of its MINDSET headset.
Since the MINDBALL game release in 2003 and until now, many of CTBCI applications have been within games or entertainment, e.g. controlling physical devices such as robots, helicopters or cat ears, or virtual characters or objects in computer games, typically with relatively simple behavior (e.g. moving the helicopter up and down). Other applications include measuring and help improving wellness, e.g. measuring brain activity for meditation support. More expensive medical brain-computer interfaces have been used to control prosthetics (e.g. robotic arms and legs), and also being able support brain-to-brain communication by enabling one person to control body parts of another person. Common for several of the medical brain-computer interfaces is that they are impractical to use outside a clinical setting. MRI requires large magnets and equipment to work, for example, and intracranial recording requires surgery.
Based on calculations of EEG, EMG, and other signals captured the CTBCI vendors have created their own derived signals, which provide estimates of higher-level mental and conscious activity in the brain. The NeuroSky mobile platform, for example, provides derived signals “Attention” and “Meditation,” both measured in percentage—0 to 100%.
The goal of instant search is to provide the best search result for a query as instantaneously as possible, typically faster than 200 milliseconds. A query may have several forms, e.g. a complete sentence, several query terms or phrases, or a single or multi-character prefix. In the latter case the search engine tries to predict the most likely terms or phrases that the character prefix is likely to represent, and then provides the highest ranked answer for the most likely term or phrase. The most common way for a user to perform instant search is by typing the search query on a physical keyboard or on virtual keyboard, such as a touch-sensitive screen.
Heretofore, the advantages of inexpensive CTBCI have not been used in combination with instant search. Therefore there is a need for providing brain-controlled instant search on devices, particularly mobile devices.